April 23rd: "Lakers vs Suns" "Lakers' Parker fuels Suns with talk of victory" "Lakers Drop Close Game 1 to Suns"
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Phil
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:37 am    Post subject: April 23rd: "Lakers vs Suns" "Lakers' Parker fuels Suns with talk of victory" "Lakers Drop Close Game 1 to Suns"

Lakers' Parker fuels Suns with talk of victory
TIMES WIRE SERVICES

Leave it to one of the Lakers' babes, 24-year-old Smush Parker, to have a guarantee tumble out of his mouth.

"The Lakers will beat Phoenix," Parker said Saturday of the first-round series between the seventh-seeded Lakers and second-seeded Suns.

Parker never has played an NBA playoff game. His official bio lists his favorite player "growing up" to be Kevin Garnett. Yet one day after coach Phil Jackson said of his young players, "We're not at all doubting ourselves," Parker took it further.

"There's definitely going to be an upset," Parker said.

Ron Artest's proclamations about the eighth-seeded Sacramento Kings upsetting the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs were refuted quickly by Spurs coasting to a 122-88 win on Saturday.


Last edited by Phil on Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:41 am    Post subject:

Lakers Injury Report

Luke Walton and Chris Mihm (Los Angeles Lakers) – Walton sustained a bruised left cheekbone after getting elbowed Wednesday by New Orleans center Marc Jackson and will play today. Mihm’s status is still questionable. The 7-foot center has not fully recovered from a severe right ankle sprain that forced him to sit out 17 games. The Los Angeles Times
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:43 am    Post subject:

Lakers
Have It Set to Stun


L.A. is confident it can pull off an upset of the Suns, that 1-7 record against them the last two years notwithstanding.
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 23, 2006

PHOENIX — The road to redemption, for a player, coach and franchise, begins today.

For Kobe Bryant, it's a chance to show he can win a playoff series without you-know-who.


For Phil Jackson, a chance to prove he can win without the big names — Michael, Scottie and, again, you-know-who.

For the Lakers, an opportunity to return to playoff prominence, with the lowered expectations of first-round victories taking the place of confetti-littered parade routes.

It starts by trying to beat the Phoenix Suns, a problem around here ever since Shaquille O'Neal was traded two years ago.

The Lakers begin the best-of-seven series with an air of confidence, Jackson cracking up players by again inserting scenes of "Inside Man" into game film to hammer home the importance of getting the ball down low to Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom or whomever happens to be in the post.

Their 1-7 record against the Suns the last two seasons aside, the Lakers' late-season 11-3 run has made them a trendy upset special in some circles, even more so when held up next to the Suns' 12-11 late-season fade.

"I agree with that," Laker guard Smush Parker said. "There's definitely going to be an upset. The Lakers will beat Phoenix. We just feel confident going up against Phoenix. We know what we've got to do. We've got Chris Mihm back. Kwame's playing the best basketball he has all season. We just feel good going into this series. We just have confidence in ourselves."
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:47 am    Post subject:

Jackson's Moves Have Been Right on the Money
April 23, 2006

What does $10 million look like?

Ask me. I know. I've seen it.

It was the middle of last week, the Lakers' final game of the regular season.

I was sitting in the same Staples Center seat I occupied during last season's final home game.

A year ago, the rafters were dark, the courtside seats were vacant, the stars had disappeared, the buzz was a drone.

This time, the joint was filled, Jack was sitting with Regis, confetti was flying, the buzz was a roar.

That's what $10 million looks like.

This is what Phil Jackson is being paid.

"M-V-P, M-V-P."

Those chants should be for him.

On a team with the fewest wins in his career, this is Jackson's best coaching job ever.

On a team that should become the only first-round playoff loser in his career, this is his championship coaching achievement.

"I totally agree with that," said Kobe Bryant, whose underdog Lakers open the playoffs in Phoenix today. "The knock on Phil has always been that he has won with great teams. Just look at our roster here. Nobody expected us to make any noise, and look what we've done."
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:49 am    Post subject:

Lakers Blog: Pick Your X-Factor


BK and I are at Staples right now, doing a little scouting of the Lakers' potential second round opponents. Of course, the Lakers gotta get past Phoenix first in order to play either the Clips or Nugs. Obviously, Kobe's gotta play his game (and play it well) or this team ain't going no place. But even the sickest of players need a little help come playoff time, and Kobe's no exception. It's up to Bryant's teammates to bring it this series. Which brings us to the $1,000,000 question.

Of the entire supporting cast, who absolutely, positively, hands down, period needs to step it up the most?
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:57 am    Post subject:

Suns again go to bat for their style

By Mike Tulumello, Tribune
April 23, 2006
The Suns’ style is on trial. So what else is new?
It’s playoff time, so — in what now should be considered an annual ritual — the Suns have spent the past couple of days talking up the idea that a run-and-gun style can work in the postseason.

“We want to prove ’em wrong,” Steve Nash said of pundits peddling conventional wisdom.

“Traditionally, you haven’t seen jump-shooting teams” win titles, Nash acknowledged.

Moreover, “Teams that win usually have a low-post threat. “We don’t have that. We try to play with other facets: Ball movement, penetration and jump shots.”

The Suns aren’t lacking an inside game by design, of course.

They lost their two best big men, Amaré Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas, to injuries
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:03 am    Post subject:

Kobe does it all, deserves MVP
Published April 23, 2006


Kobe Bryant is the best basketball player in the world today. He deserves to be the NBA Most Valuable Player.

In any other season, LeBron James or Steve Nash or Dirk Nowitzki could be a deserving winner, but anyone other than Bryant this season would be a real injustice.

He might not be the politically correct choice -- Eagle, Colo., never will go away -- but the award is not about the past or about potential.

It's about now. And no one does more for his team than Bryant does.

Anyone who can carry a team with as little talent as the Los Angeles Lakers have into the playoffs -- something that stars such as Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce and Tracy McGrady failed to do -- deserves his due. It's not his fault the Lakers also start Smush Parker, Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm. To win 45 games -- 10 more than last year -- is a major accomplishment with Luke Walton as a scoring option.

Bryant had the NBA's highest scoring average (35.4 points per game) in 19 years. He scored 62 points in three quarters against Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. He had 50 points or more six times. And he had that absolutely amazing 81 points against the Toronto Raptors. He rarely has an off night.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:05 am    Post subject:

Jackson, Bryant on the same page
The coach's message gets through this season, and the playoffs are the payoff.

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register

EL SEGUNDO – This was the season when Phil Jackson, in his renowned reach-out tradition to his players, gave Kobe Bryant a book and Bryant actually read it.

"It was really interesting," Bryant said. "I enjoyed it."

Bryant called "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" the best book Jackson has given him, which triggered the natural rejoinder that it has to be the best when Bryant never read the others. Bryant smiled and said he did read the others - or, more accurately, the back covers of the others to see what they were about - before chucking them.

Yes, the touchy-but-never- feely past of Jackson and Bryant, which ended with Bryant not accepting phone calls from Jackson in 2003 and that other best-selling book (by Jackson) that Bryant never read in 2004, somewhat amazingly graduated into a laughing matter in the 2005-06 season.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:07 am    Post subject:

Teamwork a key for Lakers
By Ross Siler Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO - For all the connections to Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Michael Jordan this season, Kobe Bryant will head into the playoffs with little comparison.

Having scored 35.4 points per game in the regular season, having accounted for more than a third of his team's total scoring, the question for Bryant and the Lakers is whether they can be more than a one-man show in their first-round series.

The expectation as the Lakers open the playoffs today against the Phoenix Suns is more of the same out of Bryant. He could even threaten Jerry West's record scoring average of 46.3 points for a playoff series, set against Baltimore in the 1965 Western Division finals.

But the history of teams that rely on such a prolific scorer in the playoffs is mixed as best. Lakers coach Phil Jackson seemed to recognize that in stressing last week the need to not rely on Bryant scoring 40 points or more to win.

"The team has to score probably 100 points at least to beat Phoenix," Jackson said. "You're not going to keep Phoenix from scoring points. So if you're relying on one guy to do that, it's going to be difficult."

That is easier said than done. Bryant averaged 42.5 points in four games against the Suns this season, including an arena-record 51 points at US Airways Center earlier this month. He will head into the playoffs having averaged 41.6 points in April.

The Lakers have talked about the need to work from the inside out against the Suns, slowing the game and getting the ball to Kwame Brown and Lamar Odom in the post.

"You can kind of like walk the ball to the rim," Odom said. "They don't have any 7-foot guys out there."
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:09 am    Post subject:

Jackson: L.A. can handle Phoenix

By Bob Baum
The Associated Press

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers enter their first-round playoff series against the second-seeded Suns as underdogs. (Branimir Kvartuc/The Associated Press)
PHOENIX - The NBA's highest-scoring player goes against its highest-scoring team.
Expect little defense and a lot of entertainment when the first-round playoff series between Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers and the high-octane Suns begins today.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson has never lost an opening-round series, but this is the first time he's had a team without anyone named Shaq or Michael.
Still, Jackson believes his team is capable of handling the Suns, who averaged 108.4 points per game.
''I think we have the experience in the key spots to do it,'' he said. ''I think that Phoenix is a team that's perhaps not as strong as they were last year, and I think once we adjust to what they provide or present to us as an opponent every night, we can start gathering them in. But that's yet to be seen. That's just our belief.''
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:11 am    Post subject:

Lakers need more than Bryant

Ross Siler, Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO - For all the connections to Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Michael Jordan this season, Kobe Bryant will head into the playoffs with little comparison.

Having scored 35.4 points a game in the regular season, having accounted for more than a third of his team's total scoring, the question for Bryant and the Lakers is whether they can be more than a one-man show in their first-round series.

The expectation as the Lakers open the playoffs today against the Phoenix Suns is more of the same out of Bryant. He could even threaten Jerry West's record average of 46.3 points for a playoff series against Baltimore in the 1965 Western Division finals.

But the history of teams that rely on such a prolific scorer in the playoffs is mixed at best. Lakers coach Phil Jackson seemed to recognize that in stressing last week the need not to have Bryant score 40 points or more to win.

"The team has to score probably 100 points at least to beat Phoenix," Jackson said. "You're not going to keep Phoenix from scoring points. So if you're relying on one guy to do that, it's going to be difficult."

That is easier said than done. Bryant averaged 42.5 points in four games against the Suns this season, including an arena-record 51 at US Airways Center in Phoenix earlier this month. He will head into the playoffs having averaged 41.6 in April alone.

The Lakers have talked about the need to work from the inside out against the Suns, slowing the game and getting the ball to Kwame Brown and Lamar Odom in the post.

"You can kind of like walk the ball to the rim," Odom said. "They don't have any 7-foot guys out there."
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:13 am    Post subject:

Kobe is my MVP

April 23, 2006

OK, I admit I hated having to do it. I did not want to vote for Kobe Bryant for MVP. Something about his self-absorbed behavior during the past two years made my hand cramp up every time I went to check the box next to his name.

Yet, when an overwhelming amount of respondents to our Newsday.com poll said Bryant should get the vote - he received 50.6 percent of the vote compared with second-place Steve Nash's 38.1 percent - I had to give it a good hard look.

PC Richard & Sons
As much I don't like admitting it, Bryant deserves the award for two reasons: He is the best player in the league and he is the only reason his team is in the postseason.

Bryant's 81-point game stands as the biggest individual story of the season. What's more, Bryant came up big on a nightly basis, becoming the first player since Michael Jordan in 1988 to average more than 35 points. Finally, it's hard to understate Bryant's value to his team. He may not make everyone better a la Nash, but the Lakers would be looking a lot like the Knicks without him.

Here's a look at the other award winners:

Coach of the Year: This is also a crowded field with Avery Johnson, Flip Saunders, Mike D'Antoni and even Byron Scott deserving consideration. Insider's man, however, is Mike Dunleavy for one simple reason: He coaches the Clippers. Anyone who can get the Clippers to believe they are good enough to be a playoff team deserves the top award.

Rookie of the Year: The Hornets' Chris Paul will be a near unanimous choice.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:15 am    Post subject:


Lakers remain a puzzle

BY STEVE DILBECK, Columnist

PHOENIX - It's been 82 games now. Six months of growing pains. An entire regular season spent waiting to see what the Lakers would become.

It has not been the prettiest trip. There have been numerous valleys and precious few peaks. Sometimes frustrations were worn on sleeves, sometimes it all seemed a fruitless cause.

Now, as the Lakers venture into their most difficult and challenging first-round playoff situation in 10 years, the time has come to ask the most basic of questions:

What have the Lakers become?

By now, it was hoped they would have developed a team identity and shaped themselves into a recognizable personality.

Kobe and the kids won't cut it. The superstar and his playmates won't be enough. Not enough to stun the Suns, if not most NBA followers, by opening the postseason with a playoff victory.

The season was mostly a fitful ride of stops and starts, of waiting for Lamar Odom to feel comfortable in the triangle, of Kwame Brown of finally living up to his promise.

Smush Parker was talented but erratic, Devean George somehow still a mystery, Chris Mihm willing but limited, Luke Walton energetic yet secondary.

Plenty of parts, still struggling to find a whole. At least a truly effective one, a respected one.

"This team was on a roller coaster for the first two-thirds, three-quarters of the season," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "It developed some rhythm at the end of the year.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:17 am    Post subject:

Lakers begin quest for an upset

L.A. believes it has the talent and leadership to get past favored Phoenix in the first round.
By Phil Collin
DAILY BREEZE

While it appears that the Lakers are suddenly the trendy pick to pull off a playoff series win over the Phoenix Suns, that bravado may be little more than a risky proposition.

You can point to the way Lamar Odom has finally emerged as a triple threat in the triangle. Or how center Kwame Brown fully understands his capabilities and has been as solid as a rock.

Coach Phil Jackson is 15-for-15 in reaching the playoffs, and his teams have never lost a first-round series.

And Kobe Bryant is on their side, and the Lakers rolled into the postseason with the momentum of 11 wins in their final 14 games.

This is right where the seventh-seeded Lakers take their psychological attack to the second-seeded Phoenix Suns today in Game 1 of the best-of-7 Western Conference playoffs in Phoenix.

"This team was on a roller coaster for the first two-thirds, three-quarters of the season and developed some rhythm at the end of the year,'' Jackson said. "We hope that rhythm carries us at least to some level in these playoffs. At least through some hard times, so that we can survive what can be difficult times in playoffs.

"In saying that, we know that championships are not made in a season. It takes ... development. We're going through, optimistically, what is hopefully going to be a great playoff run.''
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:20 am    Post subject:

Pat on back for Kupchak
Doug Krikorian, Staff columnist

The heat, so scorching in the off-season, has lessened.

The criticism, so widespread in the off-season, has become muted.

The ridicule, so prevalent in the off-season, has disappeared.

As the Los Angeles Lakers have regained their playoff form they open post-season competition today against the Phoenix Suns their general manager, Mitch Kupchak, has regained his credibility.

As the Lakers the past five and a half months have rebounded from last year's 34-48 disaster with a 45-37 record, Mitch Kupchak has rebounded from a relentless pounding from sports talk radio hosts, certain newspaper writers and many disenchanted Laker loyalists.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:21 am    Post subject:

Lakers/Suns Player Matchups

Press-Telegram staff reports

Parker Guard Steve Nash

Steve Nash was last season's league MVP while Smush Parker just completed his first full season in the NBA. But Parker has some familiarity with the Suns, having signed two 10-day contracts with them in January 2005. The Lakers think Nash is more dangerous as a distributor than a scorer and must play him accordingly. Nash led the NBA in assists, was a 44 percent 3-point shooter and is the league's best foul shooter. Parker, a playground legend from New York, can hit the open shot but never has been in the playoffs before. Edge: Suns

Kobe Bryant Guard Raja Bell
When Lakers coach Phil Jackson was asked about the defenders who give Bryant the most trouble, he named three players. One was Ron Artest, one was Bruce Bowen and the third was Bell. Kobe Bryant cannot afford to turn a game against Raja Bell into a personal challenge. Bryant owns the arena scoring record in Phoenix (51 points) and is almost unstoppable when he gets to his shots on the court and starts burying jumpers. The Lakers should be warned that Bell is a 44 percent 3-point shooter. Look for Bryant to guard Nash late in games. Edge: Lakers
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:25 am    Post subject:

Now Lakers coach gets to earn his pay

JACKSON LOOKS TO TURN PIECES INTO PLAYOFF WINS
By Steve Bisheff
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES - He returned to the Lakers wearing a suit and sandals at his re-introductory news conference, so California cool you were waiting for him to don a pair of sunglasses and bring out the suntan lotion next.

Now Phil Jackson has trudged his way through the thick sand of the NBA's regular season, nudging this team along, subtly leading it to 11 more victories than a year ago, slipping into the playoffs with a roster that at times looked as if it could have been recruited from nearby Venice Beach.

If he helped to guide his kids safely past the shallow waters, they are about to look out and see a large, menacing wave heading in their direction.

It will be up to their surfing Zen Master to get them through it.

This is when Jackson will start earning his $10 million. This is when we find out just how good a coach he really is.

"It's unknown," Jackson said, describing the expectations of this seventh-seeded team. "That's kind of fun. The other aspect is to get them to play as a team.

"In playoff basketball, it's not going to be about Kobe getting 40 points a night. It's about taking all aspects and making them work together."
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:29 am    Post subject:

Parker Picking Lakers Upset

Broderick Turner

10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, April 22, 2006

EL SEGUNDO - It sounded like a guarantee.

When Smush Parker was told that several people picked the Lakers to upset the Suns, he made a bold statement after practice Saturday.

"Oh yeah, I agree with that," he said. "There's definitely going to be an upset."

The Suns are favored as the second-seeded team in the West. The Lakers are seventh.

"We just feel confident going up against Phoenix, and we know what we've got to do. We've got Chris Mihm back. Kwame (Brown) is playing the best basketball he's played all season."

Of the 44 series between the Nos. 2 and 7 seeds since 1984, only four have been won by the seventh seed. Since the NBA went to best-of-seven series in the first round in 2003, no No. 7 seed has upset a No. 2.

Parker Gives Thumbs Up

Parker gave two thumbs up to Coach Phil Jackson's tactic of splicing scenes from "Inside Man" in to last week's game film.

"It's kind of funny how you're watching some basketball clips and then all of a sudden there's a movie on," Parker said. "Now we're watching a movie and we're getting into the movie, and now it's back to basketball stuff. It kind of keeps us on edge and keeps us attuned to what's going on."
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:32 am    Post subject:

Lakers' Mission Today: Try To Stop Steve Nash

The reigning MVP is key to Phoenix's offense in first-round playoff matchup

10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, April 22, 2006

By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise

KEYS TO SERIES

Team play: Kobe Bryant can't be the sole offensive force for the Lakers. Bryant has to trust his teammates and look to get them involved early. He is the leader and has to make the others feel comfortable with their roles. Bryant also can't let his disdain for the Suns' Raja Bell affect his play. Bryant has to pick his spots and then take over at the right time.

Discipline: The Lakers don't believe they can run with the Suns. So that means the Lakers will have to execute in the halfcourt set. The plan is to concentrate on taking advantage of the smaller Suns inside.

Kwame: The Lakers have to get production from center Kwame Brown inside. Brown has to be a strong post player. He has to catch the ball, then be patient and not miss easy opportunities. The Lakers can't go away from Brown if things aren't going well for him early.

BRODERICK TURNER

EL SEGUNDO - The Lakers will see Steve Nash here. They will see Steve Nash there. They will basically see Steve Nash everywhere.

So today's mission for the Lakers, when they visit Nash and the Phoenix Suns for Game 1 of the best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series, is to contain Nash as best they can.

Oh, it almost certainly won't be easy. It'll more than likely be difficult.

The job of guarding Nash falls to fellow point guard Smush Parker, but his teammates will likely have to help.

Nash controls the tempo for the top offensive show in the NBA -- the Suns averaged a league-best 108.4 points during the regular season. The reigning MVP, Nash led the NBA in assists (10.5 ppg) and was sixth in three-point shooting (43.9 percent).
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:35 am    Post subject:

Job of Trying to Curb Nash Falls to Parker
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 23, 2006

PHOENIX — The Lakers have been thinking inside the box, talking about the need to get Kwame Brown established in the post and hoping the points come easily that way against the Phoenix Suns.

But there's that nagging problem of what happens on the outside, where Steve Nash does his best work, finding open three-point shooters and creating chaos with his penetrate-and-pitch ability.

It will be up to Smush Parker to curb Nash's dash, trying to force the defending league MVP east-west instead of north-south.

Parker, who played five games with the Suns last season, received the highest compliment from Nash earlier in the season — "He's got terrific hands. Yeah, he got me a few times" — but the time for pleasantries ends with the last regular-season game.

"He likes to play around with the ball," Parker said matter-of-factly. "He has great footwork, being that he's a soccer player. But he's definitely loose with the ball. I can definitely bother him a little bit if I get into his body."

Get into his what?

"Just be a little physical with him, try to keep him off balance a little bit, jab at him," Parker said. "Don't let him get a full head of steam going up the court, getting a running start on our defense."
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:37 am    Post subject:

Kobe-like test nothing new for Bell

Doug Haller
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 23, 2006 12:00 AM

Raja Bell doesn't want to stoke his opponent's competitive fire, so he remains low key leading up to the Suns first-round playoffs matchup against the Lakers. Let the league's scoring champ provide his own motivation. Let this feud settle. Yes, feud.

This might produce chuckles from Lakers fans (Raja who?), but the past isn't easy to ignore. Kobe Bryant has torched Bell three times this season, averaging 42.3 points. He also has elbowed Bell in the mouth, pushed him in the chest and shoved him aside going for loose balls.

After their latest battle April 7, Bell, 29, said he didn't know whether Bryant, 27, respected him, nor did he care. His team won, and that's all that mattered. Bryant said: "Raja Bell? I don't even think about him. Man, I got bigger fish to fry than Raja Bell."
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So the next phase begins, one that brings elimination and closer examination. Basketball's most gifted scorer, a first-round draft pick at 18, matched against an undrafted defender whose pro career began with the insecurity of a 10-day contract.

"Raja's always had to prove himself," Bell's father, Roger, said last week from Miami. "When he was in high school, he was among an elite group of kids, all of whom were recruited, but Raja wasn't given the same attention. He was always the kid that was overlooked."
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 10:03 am    Post subject:

Lakers vs. Suns: high entertainment
High-scoring team (Phoenix) faces highest-scoring player (Kobe)
Image: Steve Nash
Don Ryan / AP
Steve Nash (13) leads the Suns, the highest-scoring team in the NBA, against the Lakers on Sunday in the first round of the playoffs.

Updated: 10:15 p.m. ET April 22, 2006

PHOENIX - The NBA’s highest-scoring player goes against its highest-scoring team.

Expect little defense and a lot of entertainment when the first-round playoff series between Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers and the high-octane Suns begins on Sunday.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson has never lost an opening-round series, but this is the first time he’s had a team without anyone named Shaq or Michael.
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:58 pm    Post subject:

Lakers Drop Close Game 1 to Suns
By Associated Press
4:22 PM PDT, April 23, 2006

PHOENIX -- Even with a poor shooting afternoon from Kobe Bryant, the Lakers still nearly stole their playoff opener against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.

Tim Thomas had 22 points and a career playoff-high 15 rebounds, and the Suns escaped with a 107-102 victory.


Thomas, sent home by the Chicago Bulls for what they thought was a bad attitude for most of this season, then released and signed by Phoenix on March 3, made his first eight shots and finished 8-for-10, 4-for-5 from 3-point range.

Steve Nash had 20 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with 1:07 to play, and 10 assists. The Suns made 32 of 35 free throws, 8-for-8 by Nash. Shawn Marion added 19 points, Boris Diaw 15 and Leandro Barbosa 15, nine in the fourth quarter.

Bryant, the NBA scoring champion with 35.4 points per game, scored 22 points -- barely half the 42.5 he averaged against Phoenix in the regular season -- on 7-for-21 shooting, 1-of-6 3s. But Lamar Odom had 21 points and 14 rebounds and Luke Walton matched his career best in any NBA game with 19 points.

After a 39-point first quarter, the Suns rarely got their trademark high-speed game in gear.

Trailing by as many as 14 in the second quarter and down 58-50 at the break, the Lakers used an uncharacteristically balanced attack and took advantage of the Suns' poor shooting to tie it at 75 after three quarters.
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Phil
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Joined: 03 Aug 2001
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:03 pm    Post subject:

Lakers fall to Suns, 107-102


Los Angeles misses opportunity to steal game one.


The Associated Press


Kwame Brown fouls Steve Nash during the first half of the Lakers' 107-102 loss to the Phoenix Suns in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at U.S. Airways Arena in Phoenix, Ariz. Sunday April 23, 2006.

BY KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
MORE PHOTOS
Web Extra: Kevin Ding's take

Thumbs up

A major reason the Suns won was being fundamentally sound enough to make 30 of their first 31 foul shots, finishing with 32 of 35 (91.4 percent). The Suns got 11 more points from the foul line than the Lakers.

Did you see that?

Sasha Vujacic, who won the Lakers’ practice-ending contest Saturday by hitting a halfcourt shot, actually applied that to the game when he made a halfcourt shot at the first-quarter buzzer. But the attempt was ruled just too late. Vujacic did hit a three-pointer with 10:01 to play for an 80-79 Lakers lead.

Key adjustment

Despite standing 6-foot-10, Tim Thomas has never liked rebounding very much - never reaching five per game even when he was playing 30 minutes a game earlier in his career. Besides his 22 points, though, Thomas had 15 of Phoenix’ 36 rebounds (the Lakers had 47).


PHOENIX— Even with a poor shooting afternoon from Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers still nearly stole their playoff opener against the Phoenix Suns today.

Tim Thomas had 22 points and a career playoff-high 15 rebounds, and the Suns escaped with a 107-102 victory.

Thomas, sent home by the Chicago Bulls for what they thought was a bad attitude for most of this season, then released and signed by Phoenix on March 3, made his first eight shots and finished 8-for-10, 4-for-5 from 3-point range.

Steve Nash had 20 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with 1:07 to play, and 10 assists. The Suns made 32 of 35 free throws, 8-for-8 by Nash. Shawn Marion added 19 points, Boris Diaw 15 and Leandro Barbosa 15, nine in the fourth quarter.
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Phil
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:05 pm    Post subject:

Kobe's poor shooting dooms Lakers as Suns prevail 107-102
Updated 4/23/2006 8:31 PM ET
PHOENIX (AP) — Even with a poor shooting afternoon from Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers still nearly stole their playoff opener against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.

Tim Thomas had 22 points and a career playoff-high 15 rebounds, and the Suns escaped with a 107-102 victory.

GAME REPORT: Suns vs. Lakers

Thomas, sent home by the Chicago Bulls for what they thought was a bad attitude for most of this season, then released and signed by Phoenix on March 3, made his first eight shots and finished 8-for-10, 4-for-5 from three-point range.

Steve Nash had 20 points, including a crucial three-pointer with 1:07 to play, and 10 assists. The Suns made 32 of 35 free throws, 8-for-8 by Nash. Shawn Marion added 19 points, Boris Diaw 15 and Leandro Barbosa 15, nine in the fourth quarter.

Bryant, the NBA scoring champion with 35.4 points per game, scored 22 points — barely half the 42.5 he averaged against Phoenix in the regular season — on 7-for-21 shooting, 1-of-6 3s. But Lamar Odom had 21 points and 14 rebounds and Luke Walton matched his career best in any NBA game with 19 points.

After a 39-point first quarter, the Suns rarely got their trademark high-speed game in gear.

Trailing by as many as 14 in the second quarter and down 58-50 at the break, the Lakers used an uncharacteristically balanced attack and took advantage of the Suns' poor shooting to tie it at 75 after three quarters.
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